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Holiday movie classics old and new

From "It's a Wonderful Life" to the latest version of "A Christmas Carol," there have been a sleigh-full of notable holiday movies over the years. Here's a look at some of them, starting with the Jimmy Stewart-Donna Reed classic from 1946.

1940: "The Shop Around the Corner," which was remade in 1998 as the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie "You've Got Mail," features James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as two employees at a gift shop who can barely stand one another, but end up falling in love with each other through the mail as each other's anonymous pen pal.

1942: "Holiday Inn" is perhaps best known as the source for Irving Berlin's song "White Christmas," which won an Oscar for Best Original Song. Set at an inn which is only open on holidays, it features Bing Crosby's crooner and Fred Astaire's hoofer vying for the affections of a beautiful up-and-coming performer.

1945: In "Christmas in Connecticut," Barbara Stanwyck stars as a food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife must try to cover her deception when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her home for a traditional family Christmas.

1947: Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn in the classic "Miracle on 34th Street," in which a department store Santa Claus who claims he's the real Kris Kringle is put on trial.

1947: In "The Bishop's Wife," Dudley the angel (Cary Grant) is sent to help a bishop (David Niven) and his wife (Loretta Young) survive their attempt to finance a new cathedral and the strain it's putting on their marriage.

1949: Janet Leigh stars as a war widow torn between her button-down fiance (Wendell Corey) and a free spirit (Robert Mitchum) in "Holiday Affair."

1951: Alistair Sim stars as Ebenezer Scrooge and Francis De Wolff stars as the Spirit of Christmas Present in "A Christmas Carol," one of the most popular screen versions of the Charles Dickens classic.

1955: "We're No Angels" sees three Devil's Island escapees, played by Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov, hide out in the home of a kindly merchant during Christmas and repay his kindness by helping him and his family out of several crises.

1983: "A Christmas Story" stars Peter Billingsley as the kid desperate to convince his parents, teachers and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect gift.

1984: While it's not a Christmas movie per se, "Gremlins" does start out with a Christmas present, a cute little mogwai named Gizmo, that goes horribly wrong. Soon little green monsters are tearing through the small town of Kingston Falls doing their best to wreck the holidays.

1988: Bill Murray stars in a modern take on the Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" with "Scrooged."

1988: Nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite like Bruce Willis in "Die Hard." In the role that made him a movie star, Willis stars as NYPD office John McClane, who is called into action to save his wife and several others who are taken hostage by German terrorists during a Christmas party at a high-rise office building in Los Angeles.

1989: In "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," the Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.

1990: In "Home Alone," Macaulay Culkin stars as an 8-year-old boy who is accidentally left behind while his family flies to France for Christmas and has to defend his home against idiotic burglars.

1992: The Muppets make the most of their turn to tell the classic tale of an old and bitter miser's redemption on Christmas Eve in "The Muppet Christmas Carol." It also gets bonus points for tapping Michael Caine to play Scrooge.

1993: In the stop-motion animated "The Nightmare Before Christmas," Jack Skellington, king of Halloweentown, discovers Christmas Town, but doesn't quite understand the concept.

1994: Tim Allen stars as a regular guy who suddenly must assume duties of St. Nick in "The Santa Clause."

1994: If you're looking for a funny change of pace on Christmas, give "The Ref" a try. The comedy stars Denis Leary as a cat burglar forced to take a bickering couple (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis) and their dysfunctional family hostage on Christmas Eve.

2003: "Elf" stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole who goes to New York City to meet his biological father, spreading Christmas cheer in a world of cynics as he goes.

2003: The British romantic-comedy "Love Actually" follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England. Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley highlight an ensemble cast of stars.

2003: Not exactly a family-friendly Christmas movie, "Bad Santa" casts Billy Bob Thornton as a miserable conman who joins with his partner to pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid, and the security boss discovers the plot.

2004: Tom Hanks stars in director Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture movie adaptation of the classic book "The Polar Express."

2009: Jim Carrey stars as Ebenezer Scrooge in director Robert Zemeckis return to the world of motion-capture animation for another version of "A Christmas Carol."